1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system comprising a plurality of image forming apparatuses and storage apparatuses connected to a network and the control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, image processing systems which share image data between a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to a network are known. Specifically, image data is shared by storing it in storage apparatuses connected to a network, which enables to save and output the image data.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-287745 discloses a document management system which manages device profile information for each of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, converts image data to a common image format based on the individual device profile and saving the converted image data in a storage apparatus.
However, there are problems in this conventional technique as listed below. For example, without knowing from which image forming apparatus the image data is outputted, it is difficult for the user to decide in which format the image should be converted to when saving the image data. Especially, when saving the image data in a storage apparatus which can be accessed by various types of image forming devices, the choice of image format is critical since the format supported by each device differs.
Further, when highly compressed high resolution image data is to be saved, the user has to check for image formats supported by the image forming devices within the network prior to selecting an image format, requiring troublesome operation. Further, there have been cases where the user could not select a desired image format due to the processing capabilities of the image forming device.